Just got my 110BA in 338 Lapua. Of course I didn't heed the problems people seem to have with Hornady brass so got a few boxes (250grHPBT Match). And true to what people have said, they seem to have heavy bolt lift and stuck cases. What I have found by looking at the cases that failed to extract (80% of them) is that it appears that as the bolt is closed, the extractor is not fully engaging the rim of the cartridge. Then when the gun is fired, the recoil causes the extractor to completely slip the rest of the way out of the rim. I think this is what causes the heavy bolt lift as the extractor is being forced into the side of the receiver since it has not fully slipped into the groove on the rim of the case. And then when you finally do manage to get the bolt up, since the extractor hasn't set in the rim groove, it has no way to pull back on the cartridge to extract it. While it does take a little tapping to get the "stuck" case out with a cleaning rod, I think if the extractor were still fully engaged in the rim groove after firing, I would be able to extract the brass with little effort. I did "borrow" some Lapua rounds from a friend and they fired and extracted fine. Measuring the rim of the Lapua and Hornady, I get an average of a .005" smaller diameter on the Hornady. Enough to cause the extractor to slip off? Anyway, looking at the Hornady brass that failed to extract, there is a very obvious and visible tearing of the rim brass where the extractor slipped off. I'm pretty sure it is when the bolt is raised or lowered, not while trying to extract, because the gouging is at an angle, with a slant of the gouge from the inner part of the rim and off the cartridge completely. If it occcurred during extraction, I'd expect to just see the brass on the rim ripped straight back. I also took the bolt out and slipped both the Lapua and Hornady into the bolt face to see how the extractor looked and worked. Sure enough, the extractor grabbed the Lapua quite well and held it solid against hand pressure. The Hornady was visibly not getting "grabbed" well by the extractor and could be easily pulled out of the bolt head by hand.

So I think the combination of the undersized rim on the Hornady brass, and a very shallow lip on the extractor, combine to make use of the Hornady brass a very iffy thing.

Does anyone know if a replacement extractor, larger (deeper lip) is available, either from Savage or as an aftermarket item? Savage hasn't answered my question yet. There is plenty of room on the cartridge rim for a longer (deeper into the cartridge base) lip on the extractor to avoid the slipping out of the groove on marginally sized brass rims such as the Hornady. I'm not a machinist or I'd try to make one myself.

Any ideas on whether what I've found is possibly the problem? Has anyone else noticed the gouges on their Hornady rims?